All Round The Wrekin - Wellington Local Agenda 21 Group

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The Royal Forest of Mount Gilbert A thousand years ago, the woodland around The Wrekin formed part of a Royal Forest providing food, timber and hunting for the Crown. Before the Norman Conquest, the forest covered an area between the Orleton Estate and New Works, but by the reign of Henry II, it extended over 120 square miles, stretching from Hadnall to Sheriffhales in the east and southwards towards Buildwas and Madeley. The forest also included Wellington Hay, an enclosure for deer, which ran from Watling Street to the Ercall Hill. Norman Forest Law The forests created by the Normans were very different from the kind we might expect to see today and were essentially independent power bases where the King could wield his authority and make money. Many contained large areas with no woodland cover at all and included whole towns and villages. A highly draconian set of rules and punishments were established to deal with any offences against the ‘venison and vert’ (Venison being Wild Boar and Deer and the vert their habitat; the forest itself) and severe restrictions were placed on anything that might interfere with the wild game, from the felling of trees to gathering firewood and acorns. In the very worst cases, anyone found guilty of illegally hunting venison ran the risk of being executed. In order to ensure that people obeyed the rules, systems of courts existed to enforce the law in each forest and were presided over by powerful royal officials known as Verderers or Foresters. The Forester family were the hereditary wardens of Mount Gilbert and it was their duty to ‘walk the forest early and late’, watch the venison and vert, and to present trespassers to the local court. The forest area eventually became so large that it had to be separated into three ‘regards’, known as the Bailiwicks of Haughmond, Wombridge and Mount Gilbert itself. Why Mount Gilbert? In the forest near Little Hill After the Norman Conquest, the authorities attempted to rename The Wrekin in honour of a local hermit. In 1267, we find evidence of his existence when Henry III granted to ‘Nicolas de Denton, heremite of Mount Gilbert’, six quarters of corn ‘to give the hermit greater leisure for holy exercises, and to support him during his life, so long as he should be a hermit on the aforesaid mountain’. However, de Denton was almost certainly not the last hermit living on the hill, as Thomas Gamel of Shrewsbury left a legacy of 18d for ‘the hermit on the Wroeken’ in 1355.
Life In The Royal Forest After the imposition of Norman Forest Law, it would be easy to imagine The Wrekin as a no-go area for all but a privileged few. In reality, it was anything but and many people still depended on the forest for their livelihoods. Even in Wellington Hay, local people could graze their cattle for most of the year, in payment of a small fee known as an ‘agistment’. The forest floor also provided an ideal habitat for the rearing of pigs, an important part of the medieval economy. In 1255, the ’men of Wellington’ had to pay 2 pence to graze a ‘yearling swine’, and 1 penny for a six-month-old pig. Decline The Crown’s constant need for money ensured that many illegal practices, such as Pourprestures (erecting buildings) and Assarting (clearing the forest for farming) were legally licensed. Unfortunately, this appears to have led some officials to abuse their powers. In 1255, a Jury of the local Bradford Hundred Court was called to examine why two Under Foresters were charging ‘Cheminage’ (an illegal toll) on teams of pack-horses passing through the Bailiwick of Haughmond. In nearby Haughton, the local officials also demanded dues of poultry, wheat and oats without warrant. By 1217, Forest Law became so unpopular in England that a Charter was drawn up to remove many of the recent additions to the Royal forests. During the reign of Henry II, one third of Shropshire may have been under forest jurisdiction but, by the 13th Century, this figure fell sharply. At the forest assizes of 1250, many local settlements, including Wellington, Hadley and Dawley, were exempted from the ‘regard’ of The Wrekin Forest. These exemptions were often preceded by an official survey, known as a ‘perambulation’, where several officials walked the forest to determine its extent. After the ‘Great Perambulation’ of June 1300, the Norman Forest practically ceased to exist and only Wellington Hay remained as a ‘Royal demesne’, surviving until the 15th Century. The Forest Today Although there is little evidence of the extent of the Norman Forest of Mount Gilbert today, many of the names of surrounding settlements give a clue to their original location as forest villages. Place names ending in ‘lee’ or ‘ley’ (such as Malinslee, Ketley and Madeley) would almost certainly have begun as clearings within the forest area. In Wellington, the names of both Haygate Road and The Wickets Pub on Holyhead Road may indicate the positions of former entrance gates into the deer enclosure on Wellington Hay. In the forest near Hazlehurst
Page 1 and 2: The ‘Discovering Wellington’ Pr
Page 3 and 4: Wrockwardine Wrockwardine, ‘the e
Page 5: Little Wenlock Little Wenlock was o
Page 9 and 10: Around The Wrekin Here are some of
Page 11 and 12: The Wrekin Hillfort People appear t
Page 13 and 14: Myths and Legends of The Wrekin Hil
Page 15 and 16: The Past, Present and Future… Aft

All Round The Wrekin - Wellington Local Agenda 21 Group

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